Chapter 13: Evaluating Sources

The task of source evaluation may not be seen as a simple one by students or teachers. In a school setting, students can be given topics they know little, if anything, about and asked to find information in printed and online sources about those topics. Evaluating those sources to determine whether they will be useful for the task is daunting.

Evaluation itself, even when informed on the topic at hand, may feel formidable. In the case of evaluating sources for learning, students perform multiple tasks. They must determine whether the content in a source is relevant to their needs. Content is also examined for accuracy and perspective. Both of those factors come together to determine the reliability of the source itself. Mastering these discrete skills across a variety of formats is another consideration that may pose a hurdle. To make evaluation of sources more manageable and purposeful within the larger learning context, one may consider finding elements of evaluating of sources that overlap with the initial steps of source analysis and teach the two in tandem.